城里老鼠和乡下老鼠

The City Mouse and the Country Mouse

A country mouse lived in a hole in a field. One day, his friend from the city came to visit. The country mouse gave him his best food: corn, nuts, and some dry bread.

The city mouse did not like it. 「Is this all you have? My friend, your life is too poor. Come to the city with me! There you can eat like a king!」

So the country mouse went to the city. At night, they went into a big house. On the table there was cheese, cake, meat——more good food than the country mouse had ever seen! But just as they began to eat, the door opened. A cat jumped in! The two mice ran for their lives and hid in a small hole until morning.

The country mouse said goodbye. 「Your food is rich, but your life is dangerous. I would rather eat my corn in peace.」

生词：visit 拜访／ poor 这里指「寒酸」／ like a king 像国王一样／ hide 藏（过去式 hid）／ dangerous 危险的／ would rather 宁愿／ in peace 安稳地

对比词汇（故事的核心结构）：rich ↔ poor，city ↔ country，dangerous ↔ peaceful。学对比词要成对记，一记就是两个。

讨论：这个故事没有标准答案。有人选城里的精彩，有人选乡下的安稳——重要的是想清楚：你更看重什么？为什么？ 能用 because 说出理由，你的答案就有分量。